Minimal Loss
by DeborahsFrench
Summary: "Have you taken your painkillers?" They both knew it was a dumb question, of course she had not. It was Emily Prentiss for crying out loud, the one woman who, even when she was getting brutally beaten, would be thinking of other people and not of herself.


The pain. The beating. The punches. The kicks. Her mind remembered everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours. She should have known things would not have been as simple as going into that school, identifying the problem kid and leaving, nothing is ever that simple, particularly when you are in the FBI. As she slowly drifted off into slumber she remembered the pain of every hit Cyrus had given her. All the blood, bruises. The mirror. The smashing caused an ache in her chest where a piece was previously lodged. Her eyes opened snappily and her hand flew to the bandaged cut on her chest. A soft groan came from her mouth before she remembered she was being watched. Luckily, as Prentiss looked around the room, she saw the team asleep, only three people were awake, one of them being herself. Another being Morgan, who's eyes were closed as he tapped lightly on the table in the beat of the music in his ears. Emily knew that even though his eyes were closed, he would open them every so often and glance over at her to make sure she was fine. But, considering his eyes were closed, and Emily could still feel someone watching her, she knew it had to be someone else, and it was most definitely Hotch. The one man who never seemed to sleep. Her eyes looked over to his, and found him watching her, not in the least embarrassed for being caught watching her as he held his eyes, still watching her as she subtly moved her hand away from her chest back down to her side. She tried to remove the look of pain off of her face, but it was too late, Hotch had already noticed it.

"Are you okay?" He got up, and walked towards her.

Morgan had obviously sensed the movement of their team leader, so he opened his eyes and removed his headphones to see and hear all that was being said.

"…I'm fine." The hint of delay in her words suggested that she was not fine and Hotch crouched down to her level.

"Really?" He gave her a raised eyebrow and Emily huffed, knowing it was a bad call when it came to lying to profilers.

"Fine, my chest hurts a bit, that's all." She informed him and Hotch looked concerned.

"Two seconds." He headed towards the back of the plane.

Emily groaned again, taking a deep breath she felt the bandage on her chest stretch and the cut ache even more.

"Damn." She swore and her hand went back to its position on her chest.

"You okay, Princess?" Morgan asked, turning his iPod off and looking at her. She gave another nod, hoping to send him away, but, to her annoyance, Morgan stood up and went over to her seat. Cautiously, he moved a piece of her hair that had fallen onto her face and sighed, "I know you aren't fine." She looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"I am okay." She sighed. "Just aching slightly."

"Have you taken your painkillers?" They both knew it was a dumb question, of course she had not. It was Emily Prentiss for crying out loud, the one woman who, even when she was getting brutally beaten, would be thinking of other people and not of herself. His question was confirmed as her eyes flickered away from his own. "You need to take them, it would take the edge off of things." He informed her.

"I don't need them." Even as she spoke her voice was horse, rough, she sounded so out of character, so broken.

"Prentiss, you're in pain, you need them, it's not going to make any of us think any less of you for admitting to a little pain, especially after we listened to it all…" Her embarrassment came again and she once again avoided his eyes. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, Emily, you were brave, you protected Reid. You saved his life. You're a hero, and sometimes they need some looking after as well." Emily gave a small sigh, not one big enough to fill her lungs for fear of stretching the bandage covering her soon to be new scar, but still big enough to tell Morgan she was giving in. "Good." He rose back to his feet, and reached over the seat to grab Emily's Go-Bag. "Two seconds, Princess." He placed a kiss on her forehead. Not a lovers kiss, or even a pitiful one, more like a brotherly protective one. It was one she needed now.

As he reached the back of the BAU jet, Morgan found Hotch who was busily trying to get the coffee machine to work, hitting it lightly every so often. Derek gave a laugh, placing the go-bag on the side next to him.

"I think you need to switch it on." Carefully he reached over and flicked the plug switch. As he heard Hotch swear for his stupidity. "Something on your mind?" He asked.

"It's…" Hotch gave a sigh, "It's just Prentiss. It don't know how she does it." He commented, with as little information as possible included, yet Morgan knew what he was on about.

"Hotch, it's Emily Prentiss. She will go the distance to make sure that everyone is fine, we all know that. Just give her some time."

"But she's hurting and she won't let anyone in." Morgan gave a sense of confusion mixed with shock… Hotch, with a heart? God, he must have been dreaming.

"Actually, she's agreed to take her painkillers." He watched tentivly as Hotch's features relaxed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and once she's taken these, she will probably be asleep for the rest of the plane ride." Morgan informed him, fishing around in her bag, trying his best to keep his mind focused on finding the pills and nothing else. Sooner or later he fished them out. "She's just more concerned about Reid right now, the kid looks broken up. You know how she is." Another nod came from his boss. Reaching into the fridge, Morgan took out a bottle of water, taking them, the pills and her go-bag back to the seat where Emily was. As he passed Hotch he mumbled to him, "maybe you should get some sleep, stop worrying about coffee."

Reaching Emily's seat he found her picking at the bandage on the palm of her hand where some of the glass had gone in.

"Messing with it is only going to make it hurt more." Morgan teased, putting the bag back where it belonged before sitting down and handing her the pills and water. "It says take two." Emily gave a nod and shook out two pills, debating putting one back; it was not like the pain was that bad. "Don't even think about it, Princess."

"But it doesn't hurt that much, besides, if I take two, it's going to knock me out, and what it something happens?" Morgan knew she was trying to get out of it, but there was no way he was backing down.

"If something happens there are five people on this plane, with weapons and training. I'm sure we can handle it. Now take them both." He gave her a stern stare, and watched as she surrendered, swallowing the two pills, then gulping at some of the water.

It was only a few minutes later, but Emily felt the pain slip away, and her eyes dropping under the heavy lead weight on top of them. With her half shut eyes she watched as Morgan stood up and returned to his own seat, saying 'Sleep well, Prentiss' to her as he went. She then also saw as he put the headphones in, but kept his eyes on her. Shifting uncomfortably, she hated people staring at her, she got herself into a more comfortable position to sleep, and as she settled, her eyes fell onto Hotch's seat… Where was he? She wondered. There was not much time to think as her eyes finally gave up and she succumbed to the sleep. The last thing she remembered was the soft blanket being placed over her, and the lingering hand on her shoulder. That hand she was sure, had come from Hotch.


End file.
